Mail-bag catching and delivering apparatus.



cm. BAUCOM. MAIL BAG CATCHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION F|LED'lAN.24. 19lI- Patented Mar. 11,1919.

f SHEETS-SHEET aucam c, H.'BAUCOM. MAIL BAG CATCHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 24. 1911.

Patent-0d Mar. 11, 1919. 3

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 m -r- -r* 1"1 r-w r n INVENTOH iifiaaoom ATTOR N EY "cLAuD R. BAUCOM, or APEX, NORTH CAROLINA.

.MAIL-BAG CATCI-IING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedMar. 11, 1919.

Application filed January 24, 1917. Serial No. 144,254.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Cram) R. Brown, a citizen of the United States, residing at Apex, in the county of Wake and State of North Carolina, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Catching and Delivering Apparatus, of Which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in mail bag catching and delivering 'apparatus and has for its purpose to provide an apparatus whichmay be arranged to have parts thereof attached to a car and other parts located along the track to act in conjunction with the parts carried by'the car to catch and deliver mail bags irrespective of whether the train'may be'moving at a high or a low rate of speed in its travel ,the parts being soarranged that the structure may be used upon a single'ordouble track road and will act with equal effectiveness in transferring the mail bags either to or "from the train.

An object of the invention lies in so vconstructing the partsby which the mailbags are held subsequent to delivery that the mail bags will be received in a basket-like container tobe held against casual displacement and until thedischarge interval, when cooperating parts will cause actuation of movably mounted parts of the holding structure and the bags will be released to fall bygravity from the holding means.

A further object is to provide such mounting for the structure that the delivery and catching apparatus can be moved into and from the operative position, thus avoiding any considerable protrusion of the parts on the side of the car or of sections closely adjacenta track when the parts are not in use.

A still further obje'ctlis to provide means arranged in conjunction with the portions by which the mail bags are supported subsequent to the discharge which a means will hold this apparatus normally in the bag retaining relation and subsequent-to the actuation thereof to discharge the bags, will again return the parts to the normal'or holding position.

Withthe above and other objects in view, my invention consists of such novel features of construction and combination of parts which will'behereinafter setforth in con nection with the drawings, and then more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a view in perspective of fragmentary portions of a car and a ground device showing one form which the parts might take when adapted for. use upon a single track .road.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view, to better illustrate the bag supporting means. I

Fig. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view and illustration of the arrangement of ground devices for a single track road, the delivering and receiving devices being shown associated with a portion of .a track.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View showing the arrangement of parts for the delivery of bags from the ground device to the car.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view to better disclose the baskets as carriedby the car.

Fig. 6 is a view similar toFig. 4 illustrating parts mounted to deliver bags from the car to the ground.

As has beenstated, the device includes a bag receiving and holding means to be mounted either upon the car or upon the ground device to have the mail bags placed therein, and means mounted in an opposed relation to act upon parts of the basket to release the bags and cause the same to be delivered, means also being used to catch the bags as delivered.

To all intent and purposes, the parts as mounted upon the car and upon the track device will be substantially the samein construction and operation in either of the interchanged-mountings, and for the most part any changes which may be resorted to will be only for the purpose of adapting the structure to the peculiar positions of use.

The mail bag receiving basket in which the bags are to be placed for delivery is supported by the bracket arm ,1 which has bearings 2 and 3 formed in conjunction therewith and spaced apart so that as this bracket is mounted with the hinge pin 4 passing through the bearings 2 and 3, the bracket 1 will be mounted to swing'around the hinge pin and to extend-laterally therefrom. The bracket arm 1 has bearings 5 provided on the lower end thereof and a shaft 6 is mounted in the bearings 5 to be capable of turning movement and to extend substantially at right angles to the vertical disposition of the hinge pin 4. Rods 7 are formed in conjunction with the shaft tend from one side thereof to take ially a rack formation, the side 8 being disposed to extend from the bracket arm 1 to form an upstanding 5 side su iscantially around the rack portion. This side 8 s f grillework or of wire fabric and a spring 9 is mounted around i e snai o with on of its ends hooked oror one of the rods 7 and the remaining end hooked back of the bracket arm 1 so that t is siring normally exerts force to hold racl portion in the posii 'n which it is swung up to form a botor the side memb rs 8, a id thus a mail iring basket ix ormed. The hinge .n be connected upon a car, upon apost, or upon any other support which may be disposed to carry the same, and thus the receiv n basket structure can be swung 20 to and from position occupied in use. A arm 10, which is preferably curred at its ends, is formed as a part of or in connection with the shaft 6 to extend in a substantially vertical position when the rack portion is raised by the action oi the spring 9, and thus this trip arm is disposed in such a relation as it may e engaged to be forced over against the action of the spring 9, the rods T supporting the rack will be swung downwardly and the bottom of too receiving basket will thus be left open. As has been stated, the mail bag receiving basket structure as described can be mounted upon the car, upon a post mounted ad out the track or upon any other suitable support, and when the hinge pin t is con- -.ected upon a car, it will be mounted inside of the door so that the bracket arm 1 can be swung to extend iaterally from the side of the car or can be swung within the car to bring the reeeiiino basket into the car, and therefore will 3e apparent that when the hinge pin is connect- .d upon a post located adjacent the tracli, the basket structure can be moved to be disposed to project toward a car moving on the track or can be wan to be moved from the track. in Fig. I have shown the hinge pin l connected Jith the inside of a car wall adjacent the door o ening thereof so that the basket structure can as swung into and to extend from the car, and where this structure is used, it is necessa ti where at along the track at the point 2 and thus cause the rous 7 thus t the force ith this purpose turning the exerted bv th GO in mind, I r t 11 adjacent the track and extend inua "lly th ieiglt that et structure e the rip 6-3 rm to r de under the same, thereby swinging the basket structure downwardly and openin the bo tom of the bag receiving basket so that the bags will fall th refrom. To catch the bags, I dispose a basket 13 upon the post 11, or mount the same at any other suitable point where it will be disposed to catch the mail bags as they fall thereinto as discharged froin the bag receiving basket. When the car is movin at a high rateof speed, there is tendency for the mail bags to be sucked under the car and there is possibilit that the bag would fall beneath the wheels of the car, and that they and the contents would be mutilated. To prevent the possibility oi this occurring, 1 mount the bar 1% upon the side of t is Cc r a d provide the protecting fingers 15 disposed to extend outwardly and downwardly from the bar 1% constituting a guiding chute. In this connection it is perhaps possible that the bar i l be disposed some hat obliquely upon the sine of the car as from this arrangement a better deflecting action may be obtained. The structure as described and as shown in Fig. 1, is adaptable for use upon a double track road where the trains travel in one direction only, and where the mail bags a e to be delivered from apparatus carried y the car and can ht by apparatus mounted on the ground ad jacent the track, however, it will be seen that by reversal of the parts the mail bags may be deli ered from a track device and caught by apparatus carried by the car.

in Fig. 3 i have disclosec in a somewhat diagrammatic manner and yet in plan, one arrangement which might be made of the i or use upon a single track road, and

as here shown, supporting post 16 is mountee adjacent the track 1'? and has the mail bag delivering baskets 18 and 19 car- 1 ed therefrom by being mounted on the ninr'e ins 20 and 21. The bracket arms 1 carried on the hine pins 20 and 21 respec tively are arranged to have the shaft 6 dis posed with the rods 7 extending in opposite direction therefrom, and thus as the baskets l8 and 19 may be selectively swung to extol-d adjacent the track 17, the device will be lapted ior use in connection with a car or train traveling in either direction, it of course being understood that the basket 18 being used when. the train is moving in one direction and the basket 19 for a train moving in the opposite direction, and that when the mail bags are to be delivered from the train to the track device, both baskets will be swung to the position away from the track. With the use of the struc ture as just described, it is also aossible that the catching apparatus may be ged to be moved into and out of the position for use and with this in mind, 1 mount a post in the base 2 to be capable of turning movementmon its axis and 1 provide a handle 24flby which thisturning can be accomplished. To'hold the post 22 in desired adjustedflposition the notches and 26 are provided in the? base 23 orixopposite sides and thefihandle 24 is mounted to be capable ofswinging movementsoth'at as the post is brought to its desired adjusted position, the'handle can be. swung down to rest within the notch 25 or the notch 26 and then the post will be held positively against casual turning movement and can be'turned onlyafter the handle24 has been again manually raised to be disengaged from the notch. The post 22 has the supporting arms 27 and 28 extending'laterally therefrom and a basket structure 29 is mounted between the supporting arms to be carried with the open top thereof disposed at one side of thepost. An arm 30 is carried by the post22in rigid mounting to overhang the basket 29, and as the post is adjusted to swing the basket "29 adjacent the track 17, the overhanging ar'm 30 will be disposed to engage with the trip arm' of the basket carried by the car and in this way the rack of the bag receiving basket will be swung downwardly to discharge the mail bags into the bag catching basket 29. The bar 14 having the fingers 15 extending therefrom to form the fender can be used upon the car or can be dispensed with as may best suit the particular conditions of use. To permit the basket as carried by the car to be folded or moved to a position where it offers very little projection from the side of the car, the parts can be arranged as is better shown in Figs. 4 and 5, where the basket frame 31 is mounted in the bearings 32 carried on the side of the car and the basket is made up of a flexible mesh 33. A handle 34 is connected with the frame to extend within the car and by manipulation of this handle the frame can be raised to a position as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 5 where the flexible mesh 33 will be brought to lie closely adjacent the side of the car. In this connection, it is also desirable that the arm as carried by the car is to engage with the trip arm of the bag receiving basket as carried by the ground device be made to be extensib e from the car, and with this in view, I mount the bracket structure 35 within the car and dispose the arm 36 through this bracket structure and through an opening in the side of the car to be slidably mounted so that by grasping the handle 37 this arm 36 may be moved to extend from the side of the car or may be withdrawn to offer very little if any projection from the car.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a structure which is so arranged that the mail bags can be thrust upon the supporting rack and the bracket arms may then be'swungto a ,positionthattlie trip arm thereof will be engaged by the arm of the cooperating device,-to cause discharge of theimail' bags, thus doing away with the necessity of the mail clerk placing his head or any part of the body beyond the side of the car where posts or other obstructions might be encountered; that the arrangement of the various parts of both the car and ground devices makes it possible to swing the cooperating parts to be moved fromthe position in which the track in the case of the ground device, and from a position of any great extent from the side of the'car in the car device, and'further that as the mail bags are discharged from the supporting rack of the receiving basket they will be.

positively directed into 'the catching basket and the supporting rack will be again returned to such a position that other mail bags may be placed in the receiving basket faster to be held thereby for subsequent 'delivery.

' While I have here shown and described only such specific forms and arrangements of the parts and have set forth only specific adaptations, it will be understood that a number of changes and modifications may be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the various parts entering into the construction and making up of the completed apparatus and hence I do not wish to be limited to the exact disclosure but rather only to such points as may be set forth in the claims.

I claim 1. A mail bag delivering apparatus comprising a bracket arm provided with bearings, a hinge pin mounted in conjunction with a car and having the bracket arm mounted thereon to be capable of swinging movement into the car and to project laterally from the car, a shaft mounted in the bearings of said bracket arm provided with a plurality of rods extending therefrom to form a mail bag delivering rack, means to normally hold said shaft resiliently in such a position that the rack portion is positioned to support mail bags, and a trip arm formed in conjunction with said shaft to be engaged by a ground device located adjacent to the path of travel of the car to cause turning of the shaft to incline the delivering rack portion and to thus cause discharge of the mail bags therefrom.

2. A mail bag delivering apparatus comprising a bracket arm provided with bearings, a hinge pin to be mounted in conjunction with a supporting device having the bracket arm mounted thereon to be capable of swinging movement into and out of the position for use, a shaft mounted in the bearings of said bracket arms provided with a plurality of rods extending therefrom to form a mail bag delivering rack, a side portion acting with the rack portion to provide a basket, means to normally hold said shaft resiliently in such a position that the rack portion is positioned to hold mail bags, and a trip arm formed in conjunction with said shaft to be engaged by an arm mounted in a position opposed to the mounting of the hinge pin to cause turning of the shaft to incline the rack portion and to thus cause discharge of the mail bags therefrom.

3. A mail bag delivering apparatus comprising a bracket arm provided with bearings, a hinge pin to be mounted in conjunction with a supporting device having the bracket arm mounted thereon to be capable of swinging movement into and out of the position for use, a shaft mounted in the bearings of said bracket arms provided with a plurality of rods extending therefrom to form a mail bag delivering rack, a side portion acting with the rack portion to provide naeaoeo discharge of the mail bags therefrom, and

means mounted in conjunction with the car below the disposition of the side receiving rack when the bracket arm is swung to the laterally disposed position to cause deflection of the mail bags from the car.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GLAUD R. BAUCOM.

Witnesses J. R. SCARBORO, Esrss L. BAUCOM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, i3. 

